Police used water cannons to disperse protesting political workers, who demanded the resignation of Health Minister Veena George.
Published Jul 04, 2025 | 4:26 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 04, 2025 | 5:10 PM
Kerala Health Minister Veena George. (Facebook)
Synopsis: The Congress said it will intensify its protest across the state if Health Minister Veena George did not resign in the wake of a building collapse at the Kottayam Medical College Hospital, and the allegations by Urologist Dr Haris Chirakkal that the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital had been facing a shortage of medical equipment.
Protests demanding the resignation of Health Minister Veena George continued on Friday, 4 July, a day after a woman was killed in a 68-year-old building collapse at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kottayam.
Youth Congress workers took out a protest rally to the hospital, raising slogans demanding George’s resignation. The police fired water cannons to disperse the workers who tried to breach the barricades.
In Pathanamthitta, protesters marched to the minister’s ancestral home carrying a symbolic coffin, claiming it represented the deteriorating state of Kerala’s health sector.
Tense moments followed when the police tried to block the demonstration and used water cannons.
The leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, VD Satheesan, said the state’s healthcare sector is on ventilator support.
Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala slammed the government, calling public hospitals pathetic, and urged the chief minister to expel George if she did not resign.
Stating that the state is in reverse gear, Muslim League general secretary PK Kunhalikutty accused Minister George of acting irresponsibly.
State BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar accused the government of negligence that led to the building collapse.
The police used water cannons on BJP workers who marched to the minister’s residence in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital.
Bindu, a 52-year-old resident of Thalayolaparambu, was caught in the debris of the building for more than two hours. She died after being picked up from the rubble. She was in the hospital where her daughter was undergoing treatment.
It has been alleged that the rescue operation was delayed since the authorities and the government said no one was trapped in the debris. The rescue work began after Bindu’s husband, Vishruthan, raised an alarm saying she might have gone into the washroom in the collapsed building.
Three others, including an 11-year-old girl, were injured in the incident.
Bindu was laid to rest at her residence on Friday at noon in the presence of a large number of people, including family members, friends, and politicians.
KPCC president Sunny Joseph and MLA Chandy Oommen were among those who paid homage to Bindu. Joseph said the woman’s death was, in effect, a murder. Demanding a judicial probe into the incident, he said the Congress would intensify its protests against the health department’s failure and a lack of essential medical equipment in government hospitals.
Incidentally, the building collapsed barely a few days after Dr Haris Chirakkal, Head of the Department of Urology at the Medical College in Thiruvananthapuram, made an emotional post on social media, saying the department was facing a shortage of medical equipment.
Following Dr Chirakkal’s outburst, the government, on 29 June, constituted a four-member expert panel to look into the issues he had raised.
Amid intensifying protests over the death Bindu, Minister George, on Friday, made an emotional social media post.
In her message, the minister expressed deep sorrow over Bindu’s death, and extended her condolences to the bereaved family.
“The tragic death of my beloved Bindu in the Kottayam Medical College Hospital is deeply painful. The grief of that family is also my grief. I share their sorrow and pay my respects. The government will be with the family of Bindu,” the minister wrote.
Meanwhile, even as protests continue in the state seeking the resignation of the health minister, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will be leaving the state late on Friday to the US, via Dubai, for a follow-up medical treatment.
